From Jazz masters of past and present to emerging new artists performing modern jazz and fusion. No smooth jazz here!

Archive for January 2013

This week's featured artist is guitarist Dan Arcamone. His latest CD shows off some fine guitar chops and an etherial sound. The podcast starts with Branford Marsalis channeling the spirit of John Coltrane with his version of A Love Supreme. At the end of the podcast, I pay tribute to Barack Obama's 2nd term as President of the United States with a mashup of excerpts of his inaugural address and Thelonious Monk's Straight No Chaser.Also heard here is Monk, Jimmy Greene and Craig Hartley

This afternoon broadcast features a new album by Joe Lovano and his Us Five Quintet. First we open up with a fusion guitar set with new music from John McLaughlin and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Also notable in this podcast is Jerry Bergonzi's new CD as well and others.

2012 was a prolific year for jazz releases, and it has taken me three shows to review some of my favorite albums from this year. This show shows off new releases by drummer Winard Harper, singer Kurt Elling, bassist Linda Oh and Esperanza Spaulding, pianists Vijay Iyer and Cyrus Chestnut, sax player Ravi Coltrane and more.

Part two of our 2012 retrospective has a local connection. All of the music featured on this podcast is from jazz cats with roots in the Hartford area. Don't be fooled by the "local" moniker, this is some of the hottest jazz being produced today. Many of these albums deserve to be on anyone's top 20 releases of 2012. If you haven't heard of these players, listen up. Most of these cats will be burning it up in jazz clubs around the globe for years to come. Some already are.